The big news this year was that the Board of Directors
has voted Legacy status to the granddaddy of wargames so Afrika
Korps will be spared running the gauntlet of the Membership trial
vote and remain in the Cenury for as long as it may maintain
minimum Century standards.

The latest Afrika Korps tournament saw an influx of
needed new players, one of whom managed to advance. Journeyman
Ray Clark made it into the semifinals for the first time to join
a trio of former champions: five-time defending champion Vince
Meconi, two-time champion Joe Beard, and 2003 champion and GM
Jonathan Lockwood for yet another contest in boardgaming's version
of "The Unforgiving Game."

In the first semifinal, Clark's Germans faced Lockwood's British.
Despite low supplies, Ray was on the verge of forcing the British
into Tobruch and beginning his drive on Alexandria when Jon was
able to take advantage of a critical weakness in the German lines
to execute an AV against one of Ray's 2-2-12 Recce units and
seal off most of the Afrika Korps. Two turns later, Ray was compelled
to surrender when it became apparent that he would not be able
to break out of the encirclement, thus returning Lockwood to
the Final for the second straight year.

In the other semifinal, Beard's Germans faced off against
Meconi in an epic confrontation between two masters of the game.
Joe's supplies were near perfect, missing only one supply before
November, and yet Vince was able to delay the German advance
to just west of the Ruweisat defense line until his November
reinforcements arrived. Recognizing that Joe had the attritional
advantage and could eventually pound his way into Alexandria,
Vince opted for an aggressive 1-1 counterattack in an effort
to kneecap the Afrika Korps by taking out the 7-7-10s. The counterattack
was partially successful, resulting in an exchange, but did not
provide the superior attrition that Vince needed. Vince eventually
conceded in December 1941, sending Joe into the championship
round for his first ever confrontation ever with Lockwood.

Joe once again led the German forces in the Final. Although
Joe's opening move gave Jon the opportunity to use his Paleveda
Gambit defense (two 2-2-6s with a supply unit setting up a blocking
position along the coast road escarpments in Cyrenaica), Lockwood
decided to opt for the more conservative Standard defense of
the western passes after having observed the Beard-Meconi semifinal.
Unlike his prior match, Joe's supplies were less favorable this
time, and Lockwood was able to maintain both a strong garrison
in Tobruch and a defensive line to the west of Ruweisat in the
same manner that Meconi had done in his match. When Joe's September
1941 attack failed to kill the British 3-3-7 near the Ruweisat
ridge and lost an Italian 2-2-4 n the soakoff attack as well,
Joe realized that he would not be able to take Alexandria prior
to the arrival of the November reinforcements. In the meantime,
Jon's future intent would be to pull the heavy armor out of Tobruch
once the November reinforcements arrived and combine them with
his Alexandria forces to enable the British to get a 3-1 attack
against a German 7-7-10 if the opportunity arose. Faced with
the prospect of a long slogging match with a far from certain
outcome, Joe sent his forces back to Tobruch and launched the
Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch (1-1 low odds attack against Tobruch).
Last year, the Hand Grenade worked against Lockwood to win Meconi
the title. This year, however, Joe's Hand Grenade resulted in
an Attacker Eliminated, forcing Joe's concession in October 1941
and giving Lockwood his second AFK championship following
several near misses.